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This is just a quick run through of the process involved in going from an idea into a finished painting. It’s a commission I did for an American customer, the brief was for a tattoo of a Wolf, Dragon and Raven to fit onto the top half of the arm, from elbow to shoulder in a Celtic style.
To start with I researched images of Wolves, Dragons and Ravens, sketched out various rough designs for each animal, thought about the ‘idea’ of each animal, Wolves howling at the moon, the colour of Ravens, Dragon’s with wings, claws etc. taking what images I could of the animals and working from them I came up with the basic idea for each.
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The final rough idea for the Wolf, howling at the moon, the moon will be a circular knotwork pattern in white, I sketched out various ideas for the Wolf, from laying down, sitting to standing, finally deciding on this, a Wolf stood howling with the moon in the background, something I reasoned would be easily recognisable as a wolf from even a quick glance. This was emailed to the customer for approval before I added the next stage.
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The customer happy with the Wolf, the Dragon was next, Now bearing in mind Dragon’s don’t exist, (no apologies) I had only other peoples ideas to work from ,( and a working knowledge of Pern), admittedly a vast number, from Eastern to Western ideas, I decided on a more ‘Western’ idea of a Dragon, it suits mine, and the customers heritage, so after numerous pages of ideas, (I tend not to keep scraps of paper I doodle on) the Dragon here was the final design, I loved it, so the rough draft was sent to the customer.
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The customer seemed to love the Dragon as much as I did so it was onto the Raven, I have a fondness for members of the Corvid family, my favourite being the European Magpie, I remember the rhyme from when I was a child, One for sorrow, Two for joy.. etc, there is also an old country ‘habit’ of saluting them, with the phrase ‘Beer for the troops and whisky for the Officers sir’ which seems to date from the First World War( I’ve heard it in Yorkshire and seen it written in a couple of books but no reason why ) .
Given the limited available space and to keep all three animals/birds/mythical creatures in balance I had to basically use the colouring to represent the Raven, with a bigger piece I could of gone for wings outstretched giving the typical and recognisable wings and tail in flight of the Raven,
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The Raven approved by the customer it’s time to go for the final outlining. Here it is with the Wolf, Dragon and Raven with the knotwork moon and the knotwork background drawn out. This is again sent to the customer for approval, along with a list of ideas for colours for each part.
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The finished painting.
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